Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Jamaica wins Judges Award at FIRST LEGO League















On a cold and rainy day in San Jose, Jamaica and the Caribbean's sole representative at the Northern California FIRST LEGO League arrived to compete with the top 64 teams in the state. After 3 rounds of robot missions in the morning segment, their highest score of 117 was not sufficient to rank. Dejected and disappointed, they did not know that destiny had other plans for them to make their mark.....make their loved ones and one love country, proud, and find greater pride in themselves and their lives.

For the other participants, a team from Jamaica was a sweet novelty and many came over to greet them. A Jamaica national living in San Francisco, read about the team on the Internet and took time out to come and see them.....and even took a picture of them to take back as a memory. More than they realized, they were already being celebrated.

In the afternoon, the team re-spirited to face the judging of their research presentation, robot design and teamwork ability. And so even as the weather remained cold, these 7 innercity kids from Jamaica warmed the hearts of the judges with their passion and song, about their lives and the robotics programme in their community.

As we sat patiently awaiting the awards ceremony, one of the organizers asked me to introduce "the team from Jamaica". I introduced them as some of "the pioneers of robotics" in Jamaica and to the rousing applause of an gynasium filled with almost 2000 people, the kids stood and took their honours, in what I thought would have been their greatest triumph on that day.

After announcing the awards for some 15 teams, they reached to the special Judges Awards. Not only are these awards only available at some tournaments, but they are also optional. Additionally, out-of-state teams are not normally eligible for awards at an out-of-state tournament as these are reserved for teams from within the state. We were out-of-country.

The announcer begins to speak of award that was unanimous among the judges. One that they all got behind and said, "this the team should get it". An award for the team that "came the furthest and overcame the most obstacles to be at this competition......Halls of Learning LEGO Yuh Mind from Kingston, Jamaica!". It was our proudest moment yet.













Such is the spirit of the FIRST LEGO League, 3 months from now they will forget what the robot did....but they will always remember the experience.Thank you Scotiabank.


13 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Marvin:

Congratulations! You did the Caribbean proud.

Hope to hear more from you in this space as well.

Best,
Georgia

Wed Jan 18, 04:53:00 AM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

good work marvin--those kids must be really proud.

Wed Jan 18, 11:17:00 AM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Marvin, fantastic work man. Congratulations, you and the team really deserve it.

Next time you gotta make your way down to Southern California.

Wed Jan 18, 03:43:00 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

This is fantastic and truly inspiring! Congratulations to you and the kids. It is an experience that they will always carry with them.

Thu Jan 19, 09:28:00 AM EST  
Blogger Unknown said...

Congrats. Are there any recordings of that song?

Fri Jan 20, 04:51:00 AM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just knew they'd love the jamaican contingent...congratulations and cheers to the start of a powerful and postive journey :)

Sun Jan 22, 03:53:00 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I wish I had known about this; somehow this slipped off my radar.

Do you folks need some Lego Mindstorms parts? I have the remains of my it here in Trinidad, and I've been trying to figure out what to do with it... It was fun at Honeywell when I was coaching high school students for their robotics competitions. Plus it played with my cat automatically... :P

If you want it, fire me an email with a mailing address, I'll send it.

Mon Jan 23, 01:35:00 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Rock. On.
Bravo! To the kids!
And you!
:)

Tue Jan 24, 12:16:00 AM EST  
Blogger Kelley Nicole said...

Marvin, you are marvelous! Glad to see you doing such great things.

Fri Apr 21, 01:33:00 AM EST  
Blogger Unknown said...

That is good news!

Wed Jun 14, 06:11:00 AM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I just read about this project on the Gleaner today and mi heart swell. Congrats man! and keep on going... we likkle, but we talawa.

Mon Nov 27, 03:06:00 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Keep up this great resource. Respect!


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See you tomorrow!

Wed Nov 29, 11:48:00 PM EST  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I have to commend you on what you're doing. Not just inspiration to the kids, but for all of us to get involved as well. Nuff respect Marvin.

Fri Dec 15, 10:09:00 AM EST  

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